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delimeful · 3 months

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carry them home (7)

warnings: illness, arguing, mentioned unwilling disordered eating, stressful situations, threats

It was good that Vee was so light, because Janus found himself carrying the changeling all the way back.

At first, he’d thought that perhaps the episode was less severe, since it hadn’t involved the gut-wrenching shrieks that he’d witnessed before, but the theory had fallen flat as the minutes dragged on. Back then, Vee had at least been coherent, talking and standing on his own shortly after the vision had run its course.

Whatever Vee was Seeing this time, it was taking far more out of him.

By the time Janus returned to the campsite, the soothsayer had fallen into a dazed, unresponsive state, staring right through Janus with that strange oil-spill substance still spilling from his eyes.

The other children didn’t react well.

“Put him down this instant!” Ro commanded furiously, the air warping with the force of the heat he was emitting.

Apparently, Vee hadn’t even deigned to inform them of his plan before gallivanting off with their pet hostage. Janus wished he had enough time to be properly annoyed about that little detail, but he sincerely doubted that they’d truly lost the Iron Guard. They could be relentless when they knew they’d caught the scent of a fae, and there were more ways than one to track quarry.

Especially when that quarry kept dripping an easily-followed trail of black ichor.

“The Guard is coming,” he replied, crouching low enough that he could convince his oath that he’d moved Vee down, and thus technically followed the order. “We have to move, or we’ll all be caught. Can Logan walk?”

“Wow! That’s awfully convenient,” Remus chimed in as he advanced, smiling with far too many teeth. “Lemme guess, you’ve got a place for us to head, too? Too bad you brought back our soothsayer all dazed and confused so he can’t check and see if it’s a trap or not.”

Janus resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. The two of them may have looked extremely similar, but they wore their anger in very different ways. Very inconvenient ways, since it would make it that much harder to convince the both of them with words alone. Patton wasn’t even present, probably busy watching over Logan if his condition really was as bad as Vee’s vision had foretold.

“What did you do to him?” Ro half-shouted, staring at Vee with blatant horror. His fists were clenching and unclenching at his sides, but he didn’t get closer, didn’t try to touch Vee or snap him out of his distant-eyed state. Was he afraid to get too close to Janus, or just to anyone?

“He took me to the town to get medicine,” Janus explained shortly, attempting for a moment to tug one of the packets from Vee’s grip to no avail. “We ran into a Guardsman on the way out, and Vee had an episode right in front of him, so they’re no doubt in pursuit. I am under oath to be honest about movements of the Iron Guard and other dangers to you all, and even more vitally, I will face the same danger as you if I’m caught aiding a gaggle of especially undersized fair folk, so can we move past the suspicion in time to make it out of this alive, please.”

Ro was bristling, sparks spiraling off of his skin, but Remus had stalked close enough to squash Vee’s face between his hands, and whatever he noticed there seemed to convince him of something.

“Specs can’t walk,” he said bluntly, ignoring the startled-offended crackle from Ro. “Lean forward, and I’ll take you to him.”

Ro was the one holding the blood oath’s leash, but Janus didn’t have any interest in forcing their hands. He bowed his head and leaned in, ignoring every shrieking instinct that told him to duck away as small, dusty hands planted themselves on either side of his forehead, fingers pressing against his temples firmly enough to make his skull ache.

The discomfort was almost enough to obscure the prickling sensation of something small and gritty being smeared against his skin. He jerked back slightly, and Remus released him, smiling that shark grin again.

“If you betray us, I’ll push a bunch of spores into your brain matter and grow zombie mushrooms out of your skeleton while you’re still alive,” he informed Janus, looking all too thrilled at the prospect.

Janus stared at the kid for a moment, trying and failing to find the appropriate emotional response to this information. “Wonderful. So be it. Are you satisfied? Can we escape a horrible, painful fate now, or would you like to sit here and add more restraints to the only human helping you on this entire continent?”

Remus cackled a little, something unrepentant and near-manic in his gaze. “Someone’s feeling bitchy!”

Janus couldn’t help the face he pulled at that, but neither twin reprimanded him for it, or for rising back to his feet with Vee still safely in his arms.

The sparse camp was already packed up, and they ducked further into the thick brush until a small, thorn-protected space amidst the trees revealed itself.

“Guys! You’re okay!” Patton was inside, and even his clear relief at seeing Vee and the twins unharmed couldn’t hide the way worry still hid in the wrinkles of his forehead.

At his side, Logan lay on his back, wings spread out on either side of him, his breathing heavy and strained. There was the damp shine of sweat on his skin, a raspy quality to each exhale, and despite the rustle of their arrival, he didn’t even twitch. He was in no state to go anywhere.

Janus swore mentally, and knelt to try and set Vee down on his feet, praying that the kid at least had the presence of mind to stay upright.

Vee kept his feet for about ten seconds after Janus let go, and then he was wavering to one side and his legs were crumpling beneath him, and Janus hissed out a swear as he caught the kid’s bony shoulders before he could topple completely.

“Language!” Patton said, but it was half hearted at best, and not a direct command anyhow, so Janus didn’t pay the comment any attention.

He glanced over the lot of them, and knew that there was no way any of the three would be able to haul even one of the two unconscious members without being slowed down far too much.

“Are you going to say we should leave one of them behind?” Remus asked, neck cracking uncannily as he tilted his head at a discomfiting angle. He hadn’t stopped staring at Janus with wide eyes and rigid posture, like a hunting dog straining at the end of a leash. “Are you going to try and make us choose?”

“If you would stop putting words with horrifying implications in my mouth, I would appreciate it oh-so much,” Janus replied, sharper than he should have. He inhaled, closing his eyes briefly, and then shed his coat and wrapped it loosely around Vee’s shoulders. “Help me get him onto my back.”

Remus narrowed his eyes slightly without losing the smile, like he was thinking of refusing just to be contrary, and it was Patton who stepped forward and took Vee’s weight while Janus turned around and crouched.

With a little maneuvering, they managed to get Vee propped up on Janus’s back, and he tied the arms and ends of his coat around his front, creating a sort of makeshift sling. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but Vee remained solidly in place even when Janus took a few testing steps and turns, so it would have to be good enough.

“Alright, pick up whatever you’re not leaving behind,” he instructed, and carefully slid a shoulder under Logan’s shoulders, pushing him up into a sitting position so he could carefully fold his wing closed.

Patton, who apparently traveled light, hovered anxiously for a moment before ducking forward to mirror the action on Logan’s other side. “You’ll be careful with him, right? He may be birdlike, but that doesn’t mean he’s untweetable, okay? We won’t give up, right?”

“I certainly wouldn’t be going to all this trouble if I meant to give up,” Janus told him, keeping his voice as soft as he could manage in the face of the kid’s obvious distress. “Vee got the medicine for him. All we need is a safe place to administer it, and the quicker we move, the faster we can make that happen.”

Patton nodded, those strange square pupils locked on his friend’s limp form. “Okay. Okay, got it.”

Logan’s expression pinched slightly as Janus wrapped an arm under his shoulders and wings, with the other looping around his knees, but he didn’t wake from the jostling. Probably for the best, seeing as Janus wasn’t the most reassuring face for him to see at the moment.

Janus braced as he moved to stand, only to find that Logan was startlingly light for his size. Hollow bones, possibly? He breathed a quiet sigh of relief as he hefted the kid fully into his arms, the task ahead feeling slightly less daunting.

There was a foreboding weakness in his arms, the result of too many skipped meals, but tucking Logan closer to his chest took some of the strain off, and Janus forced his mind away from it. No use in dwelling when there was nothing to be done.

“We’ve got to go. The town was south, so our heading should be any direction other than that. I’d advise sticking close to— no, wait, running water. I’d advise we head away from the river as well, so we don’t get pinned. Other than that, stealth is our best advantage.” He turned to face the three kids that were still on their feet. “Does anyone know how to cover tracks?”

A moment of silence, and then Ro hesitantly held up a flickering hand. “I could start a fire?”

Janus considered it, despite Patton’s unhappy expression at the idea. “Too risky. A single wrong turn, and we’d be in just as much danger.”

That, and he doubted Ro had the control necessary to keep the fire spreading into something catastrophic. The less people they had out for their blood, the better.

“It’s alright,” he said instead. “As long as we move fast and keep moving, it won’t matter if they can find our trail. I imagine Logan will be able to cast something to disguise it once he’s recovered.”

There were the right words. A little of their unease faded, and Janus turned and started off.

“Hey, wait!” Ro called, and Remus appeared at his side between one blink and the next. “Where are we going?”

“Away,” Janus emphasized, and then nodded at the forest ahead. “I can barely see past Logan, let alone pull out or read a map. I’ve given you all my advice, you’re the ones who should lead.”

He tried not to think about what the spores along his temples might do if the Guard caught them, if it seemed for even a moment that he’d betrayed them. No use dwelling, no use dwelling.

Remus was still watching him like a puzzle that needed to be figured out, but Ro had brightened at being put in charge of a task, and Janus followed in his heated-air wake, trying to keep his focus on the here and now.

Logan shifted slightly in his arms, turning his face against Janus’s torso as though attempting to hide from the sunlight. He made a small, raspy chirping sound before settling again, feathery ears at a less harsh angle than before.

He’d outmaneuvered the Guard before, and that was with only his life on the line. With his current burden, there was no other acceptable option than to repeat the feat.

No matter the cost.

#sanders sides fic #ts janus #ts virgil #ts roman #ts remus #ts logan #ts patton #cth #carry them home #my writing #writing

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waystarresourceco · 6 months

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So general question - how are folks thinking about day school vs boarding school for the Roy kids?

I think what we know via the show/script/interviews is:

Kendall attended Buckley which is a k-9 school

Per "Prague" Roman attended St. Andrew's, presumably a reference to St. Andrew's-Sewanee School in Tennessee which is a 6-12 middle/high school (where Roman was probably a boarding student given location)

Alan Ruck has stated he thinks Connor was shipped off to boarding school for most of his educational life

Based on this, I think I had assumed Kendall and Shiv had attended day school and lived at home until college, but in reading some old interviews I came across the below video clip where Sarah mentions Shiv (or maybe all of the kids?) might have also attended boarding school for at least some portion of schooling. On a semi-related note, there's also this clip of Annabelle Dexter-Jones mentioning that Naomi attended a mix of boarding and day schools which may be semi-relevant just considering Naomi's in the same wealth bracket as the Roys (although probably not in the same social circles due to old v. new money, politics, and a few other things).

So I guess where I'm coming out on this is...maybe Shiv also attended boarding school? I can't find anything where Jeremy mentions boarding or day school one way or the other but I could see a world where (a) all the kids attended boarding schools or (b) if they didn't all attend boarding school, Kendall is the one Logan is least likely to allow out of his watch if he was already "troubled" in Logan's view but still rotating it all in my brain (and would be happy to chat about/hear others views)...

Clip of Sarah Snook mentioning boarding school below the cut for those interested:

Q: Have you as an actor thought about what Shiv’s childhood was like or maybe even had explicit conversations with Jesse about what did shiv go through in her childhood until we meet her on screen?

A: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you sort of create a roadmap of imaginative kind of work in what their experiences would have been and what it is like to be shepherded around and farmed off to some – probably in boarding school overseas for a bit, or college overseas at least; or you know, holiday-house to holiday-house which none of them really feel like a home. I love that bit where she’s showing her dad all the houses and homes that they have and he just doesn’t recognize them. The monumental wealth that these people have which leaves them sort of lost and kind of displaced in the world, and especially if they don’t have a home, sort of family strength and foundation to call home.” (x)

#I'm always really interested in the push-pull Logan seems to have re having his children around #because on the one hand he's crazy possessive but on the other he's constantly cutting them out or pushing them to the side #which is a long way of saying I can easily see any permutation of day or boarding school being a reasonable read for each kid #but each permutation to me carries different emotional balances that I find interesting to play with #also obligatory note that extratextual material does not hold weight - I just often find it fun as a jumping off point for my own thoughts #hbo succession #succession #cast interviews #kendall roy #shiv roy #roman roy #connor roy #sarah snook

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